Floor mat for stabilizing foot pedal box

ABSTRACT

A FLOOR MAT INCORPORATES A RETENTIAON SLOT DEFINED BY A PAIR OF PARALLEL STOP WALLS AND A BARRIER WALL THAT INTERSECTS THE STOP WALLS. THE STOP WALLS LIMIT SIDE MOVEMENT TENDENCIES OF A FOOT PEDAL CONTROL BOX, SUCH AS THAT USED TO OPERATE A SEWING MACHINE, WHILE THE BARRIER WALL LIMITS FORWARD MOTION TENDENCIES OF THE BOX SO THAT THE BOX CAN BE ACCURATELY AND STABLY HELD AT A DESIRED LOCATION.

y 23, 1972 H. L. NOBLE 3,664,628

FLOOR MAT FOR STABILIZING FOOT PEDAL BOX Filed Feb. 15, 1969 FIG. 2

INVENTOR. HARTSEL LEDAHL NOBLE WPMW ATTORNEYS United States PatentOffice 3,664,628 Patented May 23, 1972 3,664,628 FLOOR MATFORSTABILIZING FOOT PEDAL BOX Hartsel Ledahl Noble, 4400 Cathedral OaksRoad, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93110 Filed Feb. 13, 1969, Ser. No. 799,007Int. Cl. A47b 91/04 US. Cl. 248350 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThis invention relates to a floor mat and more specifically to a lloormat arranged to receive a foot pedal control box and prevent it frombecoming displaced.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Most conventional electrically poweredsewing machines are operated by a foot pedal control box positionedbeneath the sewing machine table at a location convenient for theparticular operator.

It becomes annoying to the operator when the control box slips away fromthe desired convenient location to an inconvenient location out of rangeof the operators foot. Being compelled to stoop and stretch for thedisplaced control box in order to restore it to the convenient locationis time consuming and exposes the operator to the risk of becomingbumped or strained. The control box can become displaced eitherby-jiggling due to the vibratory forces generated during sewing or canbe accidentally kicked or jarred away by the operator or another person.

Ordinarily, either no accessory is employed to arrest control boxmovement tendencies or else expensive and complex accessories areemployed such as that disclosed in US. Pat. 1,801,067 to Bodine.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention contemplates acompact inexpensive fioor mat positionable beneath a work table or deskto prevent a foot pedal control box retained by the mat from beingunintentionally displaced from a desired convenient location. The matprevents the foot pedal control box from becoming displaced either bycreeping due to vibratory forces or being inadvertently shoved or kickedby the person operating the foot pedal control box. The foot pedalcontrol box may be of the ordinary conventional construction used inconjunction with sewing machines, dictation transcription equipment, orthe like.

The mat is characterized by a flexible plate that mounts a pair ofparallel and laterally spaced stop walls. The stop walls together with abarrier wall that interconnects the stop walls constitutes a continuouswall of horseshoe shape that defines a retention slot.

The stop walls of the retention slot limit side motion of a foot pedalcontrol box positioned in the retention slot while the barrier wall, ina similar manner, limits forward motion tendencies of the control box.

A pair of lips are preferably connected to the top portions of the stopwalls and extend inwardly towards one another to overhang sections ofthe retention slot. The lips extend along substantially the entirelengths of the stop walls and their innermost edges are substantiallyparallel to establish flush frictional engagement with the opposingsides of the control box. The bottom surface of the flexible plate mayinclude a plurality of gripping ribs to prevent the plate from slippingas a persons foot is bearing down upon the foot pedal box to operate thebox in the usual manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The numerous benefits and uniqueaspects of the present invention will be fully understood when thefollowing detailed description is studied in conjunction with thedrawings, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a foot matconstructed in accordance with the present invention, showing aconventional foot pedal control box positioned on the mat prior to beinginserted into the retention slot; and,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DIECRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to thedrawings, FIG. 1 shows a floor mat 10 preferably fabricated as anintegral unit from flexible material such as rubber. Floor mat includesa flexible plate 11, having a top surface upon which a U-shaped, raisedstructure or ridge 12 is attached. Ridge 12 includes a pair of paralleland laterally spaced stop walls 13 and 114 interconnected by a barrieror head wall 15 aligned perpendicular to stop walls 13 and 14.

A pair of flexible lips 16 and 17 are connected to the top portions ofstop walls 13 and 14 respectively. Lips .16 and 17 extend inwardlytowards one another and terminate at innermost edges '18 and 19 that arealigned substantially parallel with one another. Barrier wall 15 alsoincludes a flexible lip 20.

Stop walls 13 and 14, barrier wall 15, together with the top surface ofplate 11 define a retention slot 21. The forward end of retention slot21 is blocked by barrier wall 15 and its rearward end 22 is open tofacilitate quick entrance into retention slot 21 of a conventionalsewing machine foot pedal control box 23.

Foot pedal control box 23 has a common spring biased and depressiblefoot pedal 24 and an electrical power line 25. As is well known, aseamstress can attend to a stitching job with two free hands whilemanipulating control box 23 with a foot. As shall be fully explainedwhen box 23 is shoved in a direction indicated by directional arrow 26and becomes inserted in retention slot 21, stop walls 13 and 14 andbarrier wall 15 coact to limit its motion tendencies and stabilize it atthe desired optimum location most convenient for the seamstress.Flexible lips 16 and 17 can be bunched or compressed against opposingwalls of relatively wide control boxes so that retention slot 21 canaccommodate boxes of varying slzes.

The forward end 27 of plate 11 terminates near the outer periphery ofbarrier wall 15. The rearward end 28 of plate 11 extends rearwardlybeyond the rearward or open end 22 of retention slot 21 so that when aperson is operating box 23 her heel will bear down against plate 11 andprevent floor mat 10 from slipping forwardly.

Referring to FIG. 2, barrier lip 20 has an innermost edge 29 thatterminates in abutting relationship with the innermost edges of the stopwalls. To further prevent mat 10 from moving forwardly the bottomsurface 30 of plate 11 includes a plurality of gripping elements 31. Thegripping elements may be transversely aligned ribs, as shown, oralternatively may be integrally formed suction cups or the like.

In addition to controlling and stabilizing undesirable motions of footpedal control boxes associated with the operation of sewing machines,floor mat 10 may also be employed to suppress motions of foot pedalcontrol boxes associated with dictation transcription equipment, dentalor medical equipment or any other devices where a person wishes tostart, stop, or, regulate operation of the equipment by manipulation ofhis foot while simultaneously leaving his hands free for other purposes.

OPERATION Keeping the above construction in mind it can be understoodhow previously described disadvantages of conventional techniques forstabilizing foot pedal control boxes are overcome or substantiallyeliminated by the present invention.

When floor mat 10 is to be employed to stabilize movements of a footpedal control box associated with a sewing machine then it is laid at aconvenient location on the floor beneath the sewing machine. Mat 10 isadjusted until the U-shaped ridge 12 assumes the most optimum convenientlocation for the particular foot intended by the seamstress to be usedto manipulate foot pedal box 23. Foot pedal box 23 is then shoved eitherwith a hand or foot in direction 26 until it is slid fully intoretention slot 21 with its forward edge preferably abutting barrier wall15.

With foot pedal box 23 thus oriented its tendencies to creep or crawlaway from the ideal location when foot pedal 24 is depressed aresuppressed. The motion tendencies of pedal box 23 to jiggle and shiftlaterally are limited by the inner edges of stop walls 13 and 14 and itstendency to move forwardly is blocked by barrier wall 15. Since thefront wall of pedal box 23 is preferably shoved against barrier lip 20the resulting frictional engagement will also minimize tendencies of box23 to pivot upwardly out of position when foot pedal 24 is beingdepressed.

The forward end 28 of flexible plate 11 is extended rearwardly from theretention slot open end 22 by a sufiicient distance so that theseamstresss heel will bear downwardly upon the material of flexibleplate 11 to bind floor mat 10 securely against the floor. Otherwise, onslippery floors for example, the entire floor mat 10 might tend totravel forwardly in reaction to the vibrations generated by pedal box23. To further prevent this type of undesirable motion the bottomsurface 30* of flexible plate 11, as shown in FIG. 2, is formed with aseries of spaced and laterally extending gripping elements From theforegoing it will be evident that the present invention has provided afloor mat for stabilizing a foot 4 pedal box in which all of the variousadvantages are fully realized.

What is claimed is:

1. An integral floor mat for a sewing machine foot pedal box comprising:

(a) a rubber flexible plate with a top surface and a bottom surface;

(b) a pair of parallel and laterally spaced stop walls connected to theplate top surface;

(0) a barrier wall perpendicular to and interconnecting the stop walls;

(d) a retention slot defined by the stop walls, barrier wall and platetop surface;

(e) a sewing machine foot pedal box retained by the retention slot whichoperates to limit the sideand forward motion tendencies of the footpedal box;

(f) plural gripping elements formed on the plate bottom surface;

(g) a pair of flexible lips connected to the top portions of the stopwalls extending inwardly to overhang portions of the retention slot, thelips extending along substantially the entire lengths of the stop wallswith their innermost edges aligned substantially parallel to engageopposing sides of the foot pedal box to further suppress side motiontendencies of the foot pedal box;

(h) a barrier lip extending inwardly to overhang a portion of theretention slot for minimizing tendency of the foot pedal box to pivotupwardly out of position when being manipulated by a person; and

(i) an extension portion of the plate that terminates at a locationspaced from the retention slot open end so that a persons heel will beardownwardly on the floor mat to securely bind it against the floor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 718,517 1/1903 Perry 248346.11,289,861 12/1918 Mills 248346 X 1,350,970 8/ 1920 Hutchison 248-3462,583,414 1/1952 Chain 248361 X 2,929,601 3/1960 Anderson 2483463,229,949 l/ 1966 Chaconas 2'48346.1

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 248'-36l

